Chapter Text
Clive was pondering Cid’s words. “A place to die on our own terms,” This thought so consumed him that he didn’t notice Torgal darting in front of him to exit ahead of him. So it was a surprise when he slammed into Torgal’s torso and staggered backward, arms pinwheeling in the air.
He heard Cid curse behind him as he felt a hand try and grab him by one shoulder, but as he tried to get his footing there was a loud yelp. That was when Clive realized that he’d now stepped on one of Torgal’s paws and picked the foot back up quickly. This lead to Clive going into a sort of spinning motion and falling harder. He landed with a great “oomph” of air being pushed from his lungs as his face fell forward into… the skin of Cid’s neck?
Clive felt a tingling sensation, completely unlike the levin that Cid had shown just earlier, radiating outward from the tip of his nose and traveling throughout his whole body causing a set of heavy shivers and a flushing of heat.
“Clive, goddammit.”
That was Cid. Trying to clear his head Clive attempted to sit up and carefully scramble off of Cid. He’d been lying on top of the older man with Cid’s legs bracketing his own. Clive still felt oddly flushed and sweaty as he dropped into a sitting position off to the side of Cid’s lap. They were side by side now.
Cid had one hand clamped to his neck as he stared for an uncomfortably long amount of time at Clive’s face. Clive’s self consciously brought up one hand to touch the brand on his face. Then Cid reached out to grab the hand that Clive pressed to his face and Clive saw the most extraordinary thing. Where the tip of Clive’s nose had rested was a small bright blue patch of skin. Not just any shade of blue but the exact hue and shade of Clive’s eyes.
‘Not the brand, your nose. The tip has gone green,” explained Cid. “We seem to be soulmates lad.
“Soulmates?” scoffed Clive. “That is an ancient myth.”
Cid sighed, “It’s really not, lad.”
“Bullshit!” snapped Clive.
Cid swiftly reached out and fisted his other hand in Clive's leathers. “I know the nobility just get tossed whatever their families pick. But here in the real world some of us get even less choice about who we get stuck with. We marked each other, we belong to each other, and my dear Lord Rosfield we need to fuck each other to seal the deal or we'll die. Our aether will stall within us and overheat us to death if we don't!”
Clive was concerned at the older man's swift and nearly aggressive reaction, but then Cid’s words penetrated his mind and it turned to confusion.
“Fuck? Why?”
“It's something to do with how aether passes through us. Aether passes through everything in different amounts with Bearers and Dominants claiming the most. But when a match happens they have to somehow also match their aether flows up and they do that by having sex. If they don't. If we don't then within a few hours the aether within us will cook us in our own skin from being essentially stopped up.”
Cid tried to explain more calmly as he also attempted to let the younger man go. Neither was really working for him. The young lord was a gorgeous specimen of manhood and if Cid were younger and not partially lost to the crystal’s curse he'd be rejoicing at the match. As it was the brief moments of Clive's body lying upon his own, combined with the flush of hormones initiated by their matching, already had Cid flushed and nearly incapable of releasing Clive.
Cid tried again to help Clive make sense of their situation.
"You are starting to feel it by now. The heat, the itch under your skin, the fact that you want to touch me."
Clive looked a bit rebellious, "From where I'm sitting you are the one having trouble not touching me. You're still holding on to me, a little tightly I might add."
Cid flushed a little and made himself let go of Clive and then scrambled to his feet to put a little distance between them. It wasn't agony to do so, at least not yet. But it took more willpower than he really wanted to admit to the stubborn younger man to not walk back to Clive and get right back into his personal space to touch skin to skin once more. Those few brief seconds when Clive’s face had been tucked into his neck seared into his memory already.
Cid looked down at Clive who was still sprawled on the ground.
"I've met soulmate pairs before, including my own parents. Each half of the pair had a small mark on the part of the skin they each first touched. The skin's color changes to match the other half's eye color. I felt the change happen just like it was described to me, and I'd bet good money that the spot I felt change is as blue as blue can be. Just like your nose has gone green. We can hide it eventually if you want, but it doesn't change the fact that every pairing faces this moment. We've touched. Now we have 3 hours at most before we get too ill from aether pooling to be beyond the point of no return."
Clive's face changed as he began to respond to the honesty ringing throughout Cid's speech. It shifted from nigh on belligerent to a softer more thoughtful look. Clive climbed to his feet and approached Cid. "So we go our separate ways after this? We just fuck and then it can be over?"
Cid grimaced as he rubbed his right hand over his left arm.
"I'm not sure. I've never met a pair who didn't stay in each other's lives afterward. But let's take this one step at a time. Let's get through this part and see what happens after. I know you want to get to Lostwing to track down that possible second Dominant of Fire, but Lostwing is still at least 5 hours away, and this Fallen ruin will be adequate shelter in the meantime. I know that you feel like your choice has been taken away from you. I feel the same. So in an effort to gain some control back myself, I'll hand it over to you. What do you want to do? Tell me and I'll abide by it. I don't want to die, I don't have time to die; but neither will I force you."
Clive ran his hands over his face. "Choice is not something I'm used too. I've forced myself to live to seek revenge on my brother's killer, the other Dominant of Fire, so I don't have time to die yet either." He then glanced through his bangs at Cid. "I don't have much experience of choice around people try to force me to be fucked either. So thank you for saying that you won't force me. And for letting go and giving me space when I wanted you to let me go. That makes me think I can trust you more than others I've met." He glanced down at Torgal who was sitting near him patiently waiting for his humans to stop talking and start moving on again.
"If I said 'yes, let's do this thing and fuck,' what would you have us do, rut like beasts on this dirty floor?"
Cid looked around the circular room in the ruin that they were in. "We could probably use some of these fern fronds and my jacket and shirt and whatever your are willing to donate to make a small padded place for us to stay out of the dirt. I always carry potions and you probably know as well as I do their secondary uses. So we have lubrication covered. The last thing would be to ask Torgal here, if he'd keep watch while we are distracted. And frankly I'm willing to be the one taking it if it make you more comfortable in this situation. It's been a few years but I'm not so old as to not remember what goes where and how to prep myself comfortably enough. That's all the practical stuff out of the way, what else are you thinking about?"
Clive was beginning to look flushed, high flags of color painting themselves across his cheek bones, as he shifted his weight trying to get a bit more comfortable. "You'd..." he had to clear his throat there "You would let me top? You are willing to do that?"
Cid seeing the flush and shifting felt a small smile finally begin to form. "If you want to, absolutely. I not only want willing, I prefer enthusiastic. Even if we are forced into this by Fate, why should we make it uncomfortable or awkward? I like both positions even if it's been a minute since I last had a romp, so offering up the top position to you if you want or prefer it is fine by me if makes you happier. Would it, though?”
Clive rubbed his hands over his face as he tried stood while trying to think things through. Was he really considering this? He’d felt like he could trust Cid from nearly the moment that they had met, but this was pushing it. And … yet, there was the mark on Cid’s neck, his own nose still tingled just a bit and he was starting to feel overly warm and even the barest discussion of having sex was far more arousing than usual. So he guessed he was actually considering it.
Then there was Cid’s offer … Clive didn’t have much experience, much of his time as a bearer he’d ended up using the Phoenix’s Blessing to deter those that would try to force him. Only Biast had ever asked, a few times during their time in the Bastards, instead of trying to force the issue; but even then Clive had always let the sightly older man top as that was what Biast had preferred. So Clive well understood the vulnerability of what Cid was offering himself up for. That Cid was seemed very concerned about whether Clive was will, much less enthusiastic, was relieving. However, that meant Clive would be working off of a very limited knowledge base on how to top, unless he decided to offer himself up.
Clive noticed that at some point during his contemplation he had started to pace back and forth. He didn’t stop, as it seemed to be helping him focus. But he did look over at Cid for a moment. The other man had a calm, nearly peaceful look on his face as he watched Clive pace and pet Torgal, who was at his side, at the same time. That look of peace, instead of calculation or disdain or anger steadied Clive, and helped him come to a decision.
He slowed to a stop and headed back towards Cid. He squared up his shoulders and gave the other man an answer.
“Yes. It would… it does,” here Clive stumbled over his words some. “If you’ll really let me lead things and top, then I say ‘Yes.’”
Cid smiled and reached out one gloved hand, “Then shall we?”